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Microwaves can interact with the flame’s combustion zone and increase the energy density. This induces changes to the combustion properties by influencing the radical formation and significantly expanding the flame thickness. It is possible to combust low calorific gas mixtures in a stable process without preheating or co-firing with microwave assistance. Furthermore, the hybrid heating of gaseous fuels and electrical energy offers a solution for the improved use of volatile energy sources and the further improvement of the efficiencies of thermal systems. Moreover, microwaves can be used to heat materials internally, and when coupled with external heating, contribute to a more homogeneous process. This can be particularly beneficial in the glass industry and metal processing. However, the literature on basic behaviour of this coupling such as dielectric properties for higher temperature is limited, which prevents a comprehensive evaluation of the application potential. Thus, investigations with a newly designed, externally cooled, and symmetric resonator were conducted. Furthermore, the optimized resonator was improved by installing ports for burner installation and filter elements for exhaust gas probing and optical access. An axisymmetric burner was designed to generate a steady conical laminar premixed flame, which is stabilized on the outlet of a contoured nozzle. Combustion regimes with propane/air were tested within a range of equivalence ratios from 0.9 to 1.5. Experiments were carried out with an initial temperature of 298 K under atmospheric pressure and with microwave inlet power with a range of 200 to 800 W. The optical techniques used in the current survey are based on flame contour detection using OH* chemiluminescence imaging. Additionally, spectrally resolved flame emission measurement techniques were used to monitor excited state species. Significantly increased production rates of OH*, C2*, and CH* radicals were measured when there was an increased microwave power. The amount of NOx and CO were increased by 20% and 55% respectively in the exhaust gas, which was determined experimentally using a probe method. Numerical simulations of the electromagnetic field and its influence on combustion were carried out to confirm these findings. This enhanced reactivity by 22%, resulted in higher burning velocity, and provided knowledge on the emission performance of the combustion process under microwave influence. The numerical electromagnetic simulations using FEKO produced results that are consistent with the experimental results.

Laminar flame speeds of dimethyl ether and dimethoxymethane at pressures from 1 to 5 bar and initial temperatures from 298 to 373 K were determined experimentally using a constant volume spherical vessel and a heat flux burner setup. This study is the first to report dimethoxymethane laminar flame speeds at a pressure higher than 1 bar. Using these experimental data along with data available in the literature, a new kinetic model for the prediction of the oxidation behavior of dimethyl ether and dimethoxymethane in freely propagating and burner stabilized premixed flames, in shock tubes, rapid compression machines, flow reactors, and a jet-stirred reactor has been developed. The experimental results from the present work and literature are interpreted with the help of the derived kinetic model. This newly developed reaction mechanism considers the redox chemistry of NOx to accommodate the influence of the oxygen level on the onset of fuel conversion and interconversion of NO and NO2. The current model suggests that an increased O2 level promotes the HO2 production, which in turn leads to the formation of OH radicals, which promotes the combustion of the fuel/air mixture under lean conditions. The increase of OH radical concentrations is mainly via the NO/NO2 interconversion reaction channel, NO+HO2=NO2+OH, NO2+H=NO+OH, CH3OCH3+NO2=CH3OCH2+HONO, followed by the thermal decomposition of HONO. This work extends the kinetic database and helps to improve the understanding of dimethyl ether and dimethoxymethane combustion behavior. The kinetic model presented in this work can serve as a base model for hydrocarbons and oxygenated fuels higher than C2.

[EN] Low laminar burning velocity’s and slow reactions propagation are among a key problem in combustion processes with low calorific gas mixtures. The mixtures have a laminar burning velocity of 10 cm/s to 15 cm/s or even below which is 37% of natural gas. Thermal use of these gases could save considerable amounts of fossil fuel and reduce CO2 emissions. Due to low burning velocities and low enthalpy of combustion, ignition and stable combustion is complex, often preventing utilization of these gases. Microwave-assisted combustion can help to solve these problems. With microwave assistance, these gas mixtures could be burned with a higher burning velocity without preheating or co-firing. Therefore, this effect could be used for flame stabilization processes in industry applications. Microwaves could also change the combustion properties, for example radical formation and flame thickness. In this paper, we explore a possibility of using microwaves to increase the burning velocity of propane as one component in low calorific gas mixtures and also show higher productions of OH* and CH* radicals with an increase of the input microwave power. Different compositions of low calorific fuels were tested within a range of equivalence ratios from φ= 0.8 to φ= 1.3 for initial temperatures of 298 K and atmospheric conditions and microwave powers from 120 W to 600 W. For the experiments, a standard WR340 waveguide was modified with a port for burner installation and filter elements allowing for flue gas exhaust and optical access from the side. A 2.45 GHz CW magnetron was used as microwave source, microwave measurements were carried out with a 6-port- reflectometer with integrated three stub tuner. An axisymmetric premixed burner was designed to generate a steady conical laminar premixed flame stabilized on the outlet of a contoured nozzle under atmospheric pressure. The burner was operated with a propane mass flow of 0.2-0.4 nl/min at an equivalence ratio of φ= 0.8 to φ= 1.3. The optical techniques used in the current study are based on the flame contours detection by using the OH* chemiluminescence image technique. For every experimental case, 150 pictures were taken and averaged. Additionally, spectroscopic analysis of the flames was undertaken. The results suggest that production of OH* radicals in the flame front increases with microwave power. For evaluation, a picture based OH* chemiluminescence and a spectrographic method was used. In addition, a 9.9% increase of the burning velocity was observed in the premixed propane-air mixture for a 66 Watt absorbed microwave power. This effect is attributed to the increased OH* (~310nm) and CH* (~420nm) radical formation, which also reduces the flame thickness. It was found that absorption of microwaves in flames is generally low, but could be improved by a customized applicator design., The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the European Union and the state of Saxony in the ESF project (project number 040606100).

Machine learning is a popular way to find patterns and relationships in high complex datasets. With the nowadays advancements in storage and computational capabilities, some machine-learning techniques are becoming suitable for real-world applications. The aim of this work is to conduct a comparative analysis of machine learning algorithms and conventional statistical techniques. These methods have long been used for clustering large amounts of data and extracting knowledge in a wide variety of science fields. However, the central knowledge of the different methods and their specific requirements for the data set, as well as the limitations of the individual methods, are an obstacle for the correct use of these methods. New machine learning algorithms could be integrated even more strongly into the current evaluation if the right choice of methods were easier to make. In the present work, some different algorithms of machine learning are listed. Four methods (artificial neural network, regression method, self-organizing map, k-means al-algorithm) are compared in detail and possible selection criteria are pointed out. Finally, an estimation of the fields of work and application and possible limitations are provided, which should help to make choices for specific interdisciplinary analyses.

The laminar burning velocity is a fundamental property of a reactive fuel-oxidizer mixture, varying with composition, pressure and initial temperature. These values are important for validation of reaction mechanisms and the specific design of industrial burners. There are several experimental methods to measure laminar burning velocity, e.g. the bunsen flame method, the spherically expanding flame method, the stagnation flame method and the flat flame burner method, which also includes the heat-flux burner method. The accuracy of the different methods could be enhanced over the last years but there are still uncertainties of up to 30 % depending on method, boundary condition and fuel composition. Furthermore, for a lot of fuels, especially fuel blends, there is a lack of data. In this study, the heat-flux burner method was applied to measure laminar burning velocities of low calorific fuels and hydrogen containing fuel blends. These fuel blends are of major interest since the hydrogen concentration in the gas grid system could in future to a significant value. For example, within the “power-to-gas” concept, some new technologies arise to use renewable energy to produce hydrogen and take it as “fuel”. On the other hand, the change of the gas composition also changes the combustion properties, for example burning velocity, heating value and ignition delay. Therefore, different low calorific fuels and hydrogen containing fuel are tested within a range of equivalence ratios from 0.7 to 1.4 for initial temperatures of 298 K up to 363 K for atmospheric conditions.